The Flaming Lips

The Blackwater Music Festival hits Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Fl. this weekend. This fest draws a youngish crowd, with electronica acts STS9, Girl Talk, Eoto and Ghostland Observatory on the top of the bill.

Tickets are $165 through Wednesday, and $180 at the gate. That includes free primitive camping. (You could have bought 3-day tickets in May for the bargain advanced price of $110.)

You can get a one-day pass (no camping) for $40 Thursday, $60 Friday, and $70 Saturday.

The headliner is the incomparable psychedelic band The Flaming Lips, which puts on one of the best live shows on Earth. If you watch the excellent documentary about the band, Fearless Freaks, you'll learn that they used a motorcycle running on stage in tiny dive clubs to get a smoke-on-the-stage effect.

These days they have all the stage toys they can handle -- a plastic bubble to roll over the crowd with, clever cameras, confetti machines -- I'm writing this and it doesn't sound nearly as awesome as it is. Trust me, this will be one of the best live rock shows you will ever see.

Here's a little interesting video story about their shows featuring lead singer Wayne Coyne.

Goin' To The PoJo

Heading down to the Panhandle coast tomorrow for the free PoJo festival in Port St. Joe, Florida, which has a bunch of national acts and a few local ones as well. Did I mention it's free and on the coast? Here's my other festgrrl post on it and my other festgrrl post on it.

Check Out Lovely First Aid Kit

festgrrl took her daughter to see Bright Eyes in Tallahassee at The Moon this week, and was most blown away by the opening act,  Swedish pop duo First Aid Kit, who were playing Tallahassee for the first time.

These sisters play autoharp, guitar, and keyboard, and they are backed by a single drummer. They got discovered in a 2008 You Tube video they did covering the  Fleet Foxes' "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song."
Check 'em out!

JJ Grey Releases Live CD and DVD

Hometown Jacksonville musician JJ Grey (Mofro) goes uptown tomorrow night at City Winery in New York City to release his first live CD and DVD, "Brighter Days,"  The low-down swamp funk ("Dirt Floor Cracker") that got Mofro fans sweaty and ardent from the band's inception is still there in Grey's repertoire, although he has evolved into more of a soul singing act with a backing band. As a soul singer, Grey is the real deal. He'll rip your heart out and make the ladies swoon.

Grey will be coming our way Saturday, Sept. 24,  at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Jacksonville. Doors open at 6:00 pm, followed by a full screening of the live concert DVD starting at 7:00, an acoustic show with  Grey and a Q and A session with JJ and director Spookie Daly. Tickets are $20 advanced, $25 day of show.

Here, JJ Grey sings one of the very best songs in the world::



And here's the trailer for the new documentary:

A little ALO pre PoJO

Here's a video by the danceable jazzy  California band, Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO) who are headlining the free PoJo Festival this weekend in Port St. Joe, Fl. ALO's latest release, Man of the World,  is on Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records label.  You can hear their music player here

ALO will headline PoJo on Saturday night, starting at 8:30 pm.

Check Out These Good Shows In Tallahassee This Weekend

This just in... the full lineup for the New Year's Eve Bond-Fire festival outside Orlando, featuring. George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, has been announced. The weather's fine in Tallahassee these days and the tunes are cookin.'

Don't forget, next weekend is the free PoJo Fest, so make your plans now to head down to Port St. Joe for some very fine national touring acts who are, improbably, coming to play this very sleepy place. It has something to do with BP oil spill reparations but I don't even want to dwell on that. It's Friday, after all....

In Tallahassee this weekend, a couple of promising shows:

The very talented indie Sarah Mac Band plays The Warehouse tonight at 8 p.m.

Provocative rock-punkers Catfish Alliance play the Krewe de Gras at 10 p.m. tonight.

Americana-folk  pickers Lon and Lis Williamson play the Mockingbird Cafe from 7-10 pm. tonight.

 JB's Zydeco Zoo , that wild band of Cajun celebrants, will be tearing it up at the Bradfordville Blues Club at 9:30 p.m. tonight. You'll get your weekend workout at this show - you can't sit still when these guys are rocking it!

Oh yeah -- and on Monday, alt-country up-and-comer Grant Peeples , of Wakulla County, comes back from national touring to play the Mockingbird Cafe from 7 to 10 pm.

I gotta include this song by Grant today because he is a stellar Floridian and it is freaking brilliant -- too bad the people who picked the state song couldn't get jiggy with it. Enjoy!

Loving Honey Island Swamp Band

Here's a nice clip of the hot New Orleans band Honey Island Swamp Band, who will be playing the free PoJo Festival in Port St. Joe, Fl. Sept. 16-17. Honey Island Swamp Band headlines Friday night!